The Noughties

2000s (decade) -

Unlike previous decades such as "The Fifties", "The Seventies", "The Nineties", etc, the 2000s never attained a universally accepted name.[8][9]

On January 1, 2000 The BBC listed "The Noughties" (derived from "nought", a word used for zero in many English speaking countries) as a potential moniker for the new decade [10]. Since then the term "The Noughties" has achieved common usage throughout the population and media in Ireland [11][12] [13] [14] [15] , Australia [16][17], and the United Kingdom [18][19]. While "The Noughties" is nearly universal in those countries, in other countries, there is no one accepted name of the decade. "The Aughts", used for 1900-1909, never caught on in the 2000s, perhaps because it sounded too archaic in such a technologically driven decade.[vague] Some pundits have attempted to personalize the decade by using a play on the Me Decade, (a common nickname used for the 1970s), and have present the 2000s as the "You Decade" [20] [21] [22]. They cite the use of personal media such as YouTube and the perceived narcissism of the decade ("You" was the Time Magazine Person of the Year in 2006). As a statement intended to show personal ownership, "the iDecade" has been suggested [23] [24][25] [26], as an analogue to "the iLife", and its various (iMovie, iPhoto, iMac, iPod, and iPhone) services and devices. Numerically, the decade can be written as "2000s" or "'00s". Some people read "2000s" as "two-thousands" and thus simply refer to the decade as "the two-thousands".

Presenting a summary of events of the decade in late 2009, an essay writer for TIME Magazine also used names such as "The Decade from Hell" and "The Worst Decade Ever", implying the decade has had more dramatic and fatal events than usual[27].

The United Nations General Assembly has declared the decade of 2001–2010 the "Decade for the Promotion of a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World".